Ahmet Davutoglu's civilizational discourse and new political thinking on Turkish foreign policy during the Ak Party Era

Humans have always been in search of order, ever since starting to live in a collective and social form of life because of one's nature. For centuries, civilization has been in a mutual interaction with human beings, where it got affected and had an effect upon the personal, collective and social aspects. For this reason, the elements and other dynamics that constitute civilization have proceeded in continuous change and transformation. The existence of an injustice system creator within the international arena, a system that is not sufficient enough to address today's problems as well as a global dominant power known as the West being remote from comprehensiveness and having one-sided consciousness have been put forward. As a result, a new order and the new founding actors are needed. In this sense, Turkey has indicated that it does not reflect its true founding potential. It has presented itself to have the grounds needed for new order through the opportunity and limit its geography holds. This foreign policy statement became more evident during the period of AK Party's foreign policy and has been tried to be institutionalized as a new policy by putting into action many times. Turkey has managed to comlete the psycho-political process in order to show its potential during the AK Party period. Through his perception and vision of civilization, Ahmet Davutoğlu, who is seen/considered as the architect of this period, reflects his significant influences in the quest of new strategies on the foreign policies. This thesis tries to explain that during the AK Party period, Turkish foreign policy has been influenced by Ahmet Davutoğlu's civilization discourse that seeks a new political understanding and a new order.